Shying away from the SEO brouhaha

Yes, I do get your emails — questions about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), asking for advice, tips, etc. Some have heard of the work I did, while some simply analyzed my rankings in Google.

However, because of the sudden brouhaha on SEO, I’m a little uncomfortable talking about it in detail. “SEO Consultants” have sprouted out of nowhere, giving two-hour talks on things they learned from books & other SEO online references, have optimized less than 5 websites, & charging my clients an arm & a leg for their “expertise.”

They talk about key phrases as if it should be the sole content of your website. I have met 3 consultants who even lectured me about the importance of, egad, meta tags & doorways.

Yes. My hesitance is due to my fear that jumping in the SEO hubbub might even further overshadow the value of content.

“Content is king.” These are the words I have been hearing since 1997 when I put up my first website. I scoffed at it & simply regarded it as just another buzzword. It took me quite a few years to take these words to heart.

As the years went by, I got more & more involved with websites — hundreds of them — either as a developer, a Project Manager, a writer, a consultant, a designer, or an owner. I started to see how content have magically gave these websites the rankings & the visitors. Heck, a lot of our website even got the top rank in Google without consciously applying a single SEO technique.

Try it: For the time being, forget about your technorati tags, blog pings, invisible key phrases, doorways, Google bombs, & submitting to link directories. And yes, even forget about your search engine friendly URLs. For a couple of months, just concentrate on giving the best quality content for your target market.

Notice how your key phrases’ position & density come out naturally. Notice how this, even more than hundreds of tips combined, can give you that rank that you have never even dreamed of grabbing.

I’m not saying that optimization doesn’t help, because it does. But how do you expect to put in the finishings in a house without the structure? You need to go back to the basics & build the foundation of your website. Only then could you discover what optimization your site really needs. And only then could you realize the true potential of your page rank.

Content is king. After all, even the most poorly written buzzwords can carry a lot of sense.

13 thoughts on “Shying away from the SEO brouhaha”

You took the words right out of my mouth. A lot of organizations are pretty ignorant about SEO. They\’re very gullible. A bunch of Ivy-league types proclaiming to be SEO experts is enough for them to get conned.

Let me tell all of you how the human mind works. If there is a trend overseas that has not yet caught up here, he will see it as an opportunity. He will read about it, buy the books, go to the forums, probably use it in one or two of his site. Then he will proclaim himself as an expert. He will then join (or organize) contests, start an organization, invite his friends and post articles which actually have very little substance.

He he. Obvious bang inis? Sorry. These johnny-come-latelys have been irritating me so much.

Ey! Me think you didnt read the article? Dont think its about understating search engine optimization. Its more of you got ta make sure you have the content first before bunching up all keywords like garbage in your site. I mean you see sites like those guys which doesnt contain sh_t but keywords. Sucks big time.

I have this 200 page website full of articles about Forex and Article Writing.It\’s more than 6 months old and not applied any Seo. Unfornately it\’s still nowhere to be found in Google and Yahoo, only in Msn but not even on the first 100.
But I have a 5 page website about Cellphone, just a few words on frontpage, applied some Seo. Tile tags, meta description tags of course keywords on frontpage.

Now it\’s on the first page of Google, Yahoo and Msn with my target keywords and receiving thousands of visitors per month.